Musing: Playing Around with the NNELS Logo

It’s come up recently that we might consider revising our logo. I saw a coworker playing around with it and thought I’d give it a try.

Current logo

The thinking behind it is simple. Transpose the letters into Braille, and then try to match the Braille version to a hexagonal grid.

Turns out the hardest is the first two letters, N, because in a hexagonal grid, you can’t really have two hexagons right next to each other touching. I ended up compromising by keeping to four “dots” and keeping the shape as close to the original as possible.

nnels logo musingThe other issue to consider is the empty column between the ‘L’ and ‘S’, so I ended up putting in an empty hexagon to keep everything connected while more accurately reflecting the original braille.

I also tried two versions, one where it was more just filling in of a full size grid (where you get to ignore the black line since that was a mistake), and the other where it was more similar to the current one where you only have the necessary hexagons, which I like more.

Honestly, I like our logo, so when I was playing around with it to maybe look more “accurate” but with a hexagonal grid it will never match exactly. While we could use a different shape, I have grown somewhat fond of the hexagons.

Bonus content in the top right by Pomax using 3D cubes instead of hexagons.

Author: Cynthia

Technologist, Librarian, Metadata and Technical Services expert, Educator, Mentor, Web Developer, UXer, Accessibility Advocate, Documentarian

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